• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

This really is a full service blog.

The unpunished coup was a training exercise.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

Sadly, media malpractice has become standard practice.

Disappointing to see gov. newsom with his finger to the wind.

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

We can’t confuse what’s necessary to win elections with the policies that we want to implement when we do.

I am pretty sure these ‘journalists’ were not always such a bootlicking sycophants.

Welcome to day five of every-bit-as-bad-as-you-thought-it-would-be.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Roe is not about choice. It is about freedom.

Hell hath no fury like a farmer bankrupted.

“In the future, this lab will be a museum. do not touch it.”

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

Disagreements are healthy; personal attacks are not.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

Books are my comfort food!

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

Jesus watching the most hateful people claiming to be his followers

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

“Loving your country does not mean lying about its history.”

Mobile Menu

  • Seattle Meet-up Post
  • 2025 Activism
  • Targeted Political Fundraising
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • COVID-19
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • 2025 Activism
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • Targeted Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Open Thread: Tiny, Tiny Violins

Open Thread: Tiny, Tiny Violins

by Anne Laurie|  June 15, 20144:02 pm| 91 Comments

This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., Open Threads, Republican Stupidity, Republican Venality, Assholes

FacebookTweetEmail

eric cantor happy meal danziger

(Jeff Danziger’s website)

The NYTimes explains why Big Bidniz has a serious sad for the Young Gun Lost:

… While he was often an adversary to both the Tea Party and Democrats in Congress, Mr. Cantor, a Republican and the House majority leader, was also a powerful ally of business big and small, from giants like Boeing to the many independently owned manufacturers and wholesalers that rely on the federal government for financial support.

His loss at the hands of David Brat, a Tea Party-inspired economics professor who campaigned on throwing corrupt Wall Street bankers in jail, railed against crony capitalism and insisted that immigration reform would only reward lawbreakers, spurred business leaders to mobilize to preserve their clout in Congress. Already uneasy over what they see as an especially hostile strain of anticorporate populism growing within the conservative movement, and threatening the traditional corporate-friendly centers of power inside the Republican Party, many businesses fear the loss of some of their strongest champions on Capitol Hill…

Leaders in the financial community still have a formidable force of allied lawmakers and hired lobbyists in Washington. But several major initiatives that business hoped to see through Congress this year are in doubt. There is the reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank, a vital line of support for small businesses and large manufacturers, immigration reform and financing for the nation’s highway system…

The majority leader stopped a provision — reviled by the industry — in the Stock Act of 2012 that would have required hedge funds to disclose more about how they gather market-sensitive intelligence. He battled with conservative lawmakers to extend the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, a top priority of the insurance industry, which has helped it recover from losses after the Sept. 11 attacks. He helped scuttle White House proposals to collect more taxes from private equity firms. His wife, Diana, has had a career in banking, working for Goldman Sachs and New York Private Bank & Trust….

“Cantor was the hub for finance, the hub for a host of big corporations that could trust him to get things done,” said Sean West, the head of United States analysis for the Eurasia Group, which advises corporations about political risk. “He was the one standing between the conservative pitchforks and the business community on a whole host of issues.”…

The redoubtable TBogg has a simple explanation for Cantor’s surprise loss:

… Let us add to the cornucopia of reasons why Eric Cantor will soon be out of a civil service job and forced to make millions as a lobbyist in an effort to keep himself knee-deep in ribeyes.

Eric Cantor is a dick.

One need only spend a few minutes watching Cantor on TV to realize that the only way he could be more dickish is if he was driving a black BMW while wearing Google Glasses. He’s smarmy in a passive aggressive way and one can imagine that same genteel southern accent may have once been used used by a landowner as he explained to a sharecropper that he’s going to need a bigger cut to cover the cost of a broken shovel…

Virginians in Cantor’s district no doubt chose one from column A and one from column B from the I Hate Eric Cantor menu above before ordering him out of the House. But years from now, when discussing his political demise, the details will seem a little fuzzy, the specific reasons lost in the mists of time. Eventually someone will say, “Why exactly did we vote him out?” the answer will be, “Well, he was kind of a dick.”

And everyone will agree….

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « France v Honduras Open Thread
Next Post: Argentina v Bosnia Open Thread »

Reader Interactions

91Comments

  1. 1.

    rikyrah

    June 15, 2014 at 4:06 pm

    Cantor forgot Congressman 101 -be good at constituent services.

  2. 2.

    Baud

    June 15, 2014 at 4:08 pm

    TBogg is wrong. People elect and reelect Republican dicks all the time. Cantor lost because he neglected his district while failing to be enough of a dick to Democrats.

  3. 3.

    Hal

    June 15, 2014 at 4:16 pm

    the only way he could be more dickish is if he was driving a black BMW while wearing Google Glasses.

  4. 4.

    srv

    June 15, 2014 at 4:17 pm

    Maybe all these republicans just have mad cow disease.

  5. 5.

    Hal

    June 15, 2014 at 4:18 pm

    Stupid mobile won’t let me Edit. I was going to say now that’s smug.

  6. 6.

    Russ

    June 15, 2014 at 4:24 pm

    One less Republican dick with seniority is a good thing.

  7. 7.

    Amir Khalid

    June 15, 2014 at 4:27 pm

    Eddie Eric Cantor goes back to private life without having to suffer a protein deficiency. So there’s a cloud to every silver lining.

  8. 8.

    Alex S.

    June 15, 2014 at 4:27 pm

    Eric Cantor is more a douche than a dick, but wearing Google Glasses is spot on. He obviously needs to them to check the development of his speculative investments in food and water while driving his black BMW.

  9. 9.

    Anya

    June 15, 2014 at 4:31 pm

    Speaking of people who are out of touch with their base, what’s up with brian schwartzer? Is he really interested in running for president, if so why does he think shitting on Obama and cozying up to Romney is winning formula in the Dem primary?

  10. 10.

    Corner Stone

    June 15, 2014 at 4:34 pm

    @Anya:

    what’s up with brian schwartzer

    This may be the funniest autocorrect I have seen in some time.

  11. 11.

    hilts

    June 15, 2014 at 4:37 pm

    Fuck Eric Cantor for his politics and for attending a Britney Spears concert

    http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/03/26/713318/-Video-Rep-Eric-Cantor-at-Britney-Spears-Concert

  12. 12.

    hilts

    June 15, 2014 at 4:39 pm

    RIP Casey Kasem

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seCkv_aqSF8

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDYK2H0ldbo

  13. 13.

    Tehanu

    June 15, 2014 at 4:47 pm

    Cantor’s whole career, in fact his whole existence, if I may quote my late lamented Grandma Frances, is a shanda für die goyim. Or to put it another way, even those who have been persecuted outsiders for centuries can produce offspring whose reaction is not to defend other persecuted outsiders, but to become persecutors.

  14. 14.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    June 15, 2014 at 4:49 pm

    @Anya: @Anya:
    Schweitzer a schwartzer? Color me surprised.
    OTOH, if by some chance he became the nominee would you be among those insisting that he get our votes because he’s better than the Republican?

  15. 15.

    Cervantes

    June 15, 2014 at 4:49 pm

    @Baud: He’s certainly wrong about this:

    Eric Cantor will soon be out of a civil service job.

    Cantor was not in one.

  16. 16.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    June 15, 2014 at 4:51 pm

    @Cervantes:
    The only result of Cantor’s loss will be that he can afford a better grade of knee pads.

  17. 17.

    MattF

    June 15, 2014 at 4:55 pm

    A genuinely satisfying thing about Cantor’s loss is that the gerrymandering that added a bunch of conservative rural Virginians to his district was part of the reason for his downfall. They didn’t like him.

  18. 18.

    Bill D.

    June 15, 2014 at 4:59 pm

    @Cervantes: Exactly. He was supposed to be a public servant, but being an elected politician is not the same as being an appointed civil servant. I’m going to scream if I hear one more mention of “elected bureaucrats” by ignorant people who weren’t paying attention in their high school civics class.

  19. 19.

    Mike in NC

    June 15, 2014 at 5:00 pm

    Years ago my wife and I were in the Richmond area for some reason. It was mostly ugly and depressing. We stopped to get drinks at some fast food joint and I asked the kid at the counter the name of the town. He said, “Henrico” and I made a mental note to never set foot in that shithole again. I figured they deserved Cantor.

  20. 20.

    raven

    June 15, 2014 at 5:02 pm

    @Mike in NC: “The Fan” is cool!

  21. 21.

    gwangung

    June 15, 2014 at 5:11 pm

    @Higgs Boson’s Mate:

    OTOH, if by some chance he became the nominee would you be among those insisting that he get our votes because he’s better than the Republican?

    There’s a better than even chance that he would be, even given his jerkishness.

  22. 22.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    June 15, 2014 at 5:15 pm

    I saw poor old Michael Steele was floating the idea of Cantor for RNC chair, I guess to appeal to all the people who find Reince Preibus too likable and charming

    I guess I have to confess that I would look at a black BMW if I could afford one. Always liked them.

  23. 23.

    WereBear

    June 15, 2014 at 5:27 pm

    @rikyrah: He didn’t forget it.

    Dicks don’t do constituent service!

  24. 24.

    WereBear

    June 15, 2014 at 5:28 pm

    @Amir Khalid: Yeah… he won’t miss a meal. Even a big fancy one.

  25. 25.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    June 15, 2014 at 5:29 pm

    I’m gonna go contrarian here. Cantor’s loss was startling, but it may be due to unique circumstances. The conservative media basically back alley stomped him and didn’t stop until the polls closed. He didn’t kiss the media’s rings and the media took it out of his hide. His opponent wouldn’t have won without all the free airtime.
    And wasn’t the turnout around 9%? Hardly anyone voted except for the hard core who supported Brat.

  26. 26.

    Baud

    June 15, 2014 at 5:29 pm

    @Anya:

    I’ve been waiting to see if the kos folks put up a post on it. Schweizer was heavily promoted there back in the day. Nothing yet.

  27. 27.

    jl

    June 15, 2014 at 5:31 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    ” I saw poor old Michael Steele was floating the idea of Cantor for RNC chair, ”

    Steele has an ax to grind. Cantor would be another successor who would make Steele look good at the job.

  28. 28.

    Anya

    June 15, 2014 at 5:32 pm

    @Corner Stone: Auto correct is the best.

    @Higgs Boson’s Mate: Hell no. But luckily for me, he won’t win the nomination. I think he has the same chance as Jon Huntsman. Shitting on Obama and comparing him unfavorably to Romney might endear him to the beltway media but it won’t get him anywhere in the Dem primaries.

  29. 29.

    hildebrand

    June 15, 2014 at 5:36 pm

    @Anya: He must be angling for a spot on Morning Shmoe.

  30. 30.

    GregB

    June 15, 2014 at 5:36 pm

    I hope these Wall Street morons understand that the left will hold smelly protests and rail at them on blogs. The rightwingers will start board room massacres and truck-bombing banks.

    They’ll be coming for you, you flipping morons. You’re little babies are all grown up and howling for blood.

  31. 31.

    jl

    June 15, 2014 at 5:36 pm

    @Anya: If Schweitzer keeps up his new and very anti-improved identify as a corny hambone who shits on Obama, he would look like a clown compared to everyone else in a Democratic primary debate, we don’t even have to guess who they would be yet. I think he is one troublesome Democratic presidentin’ hopeful we will not have to worry about for long.

  32. 32.

    scav

    June 15, 2014 at 5:37 pm

    What’s the going rate for overtime on miniature violinists? The saga continues: Idaho GOP Fails To Elect Chairman, Agree On Platform

    Rep. Raúl Labrador (R-ID), the Tea Party congressman running against Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to be House majority leader, lamented that as convention chairman, he was unable to facilitate consensus.

    “For three weeks I’ve tried to broker a deal to prevent what happened today,” he told Idaho Public Television on Saturday.

    Will this interview go well . . . . Entire counties being tossed!

  33. 33.

    jl

    June 15, 2014 at 5:41 pm

    @scav:

    ” Idaho GOP Fails To Elect Chairman, Agree On Platform ”

    A problem of too many inmates and not enough bleeps. Unless the the GOP corporate serious daddies can find a way for unlimited corporate cash to solve all problems soon, probably be more of that.

  34. 34.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    June 15, 2014 at 5:45 pm

    @Ultraviolet Thunder: The WaPo argues that turnout was high:

    That top bar, obviously, is Tuesday’s result in Cantor’s district. The second-highest total is the same district in 2012, with nearly 20,000 fewer people coming out to vote. (The Virginia primaries in 2012 didn’t coincide with the presidential primary.) Turnout in Virginia’s 7th on Tuesday was at 13.7 percent. No other congressional primary in 2012, 2010, 2008, or 2006 topped even 10 percent.

    It’s rather pathetic that 13.7% is considered high turnout for a primary, but there you are.

    Cantor lost because his supporters didn’t bother to turn out to vote for him. Whether that was because they didn’t like him, or thought he had it in the bag, or whatever, is anyone’s guess.

    FWIW.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  35. 35.

    jl

    June 15, 2014 at 5:52 pm

    It being backwoods VA and Idaho, change violins to fiddles, and we have a song.

    Tiny fiddles
    In the whine
    Make me happy
    Make me feel fine

    Tiny fiddles
    Make me warm all over
    With a feeling that I’m gonna
    Love it, till their end of time

    So here’s to the yelling loon
    And here’s to the bag of tea
    And mostly here’s a toast
    To you and me

  36. 36.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    June 15, 2014 at 5:56 pm

    @Anya:

    I read Schweitzer’s “Time” interview, among other pieces. Is he wrong to advocate for UHC rather than the ACA? Is he wrong to be critical of the NSA, or of politicians being way too cozy with Wall Street? Obama has made his share of mistakes. I fail to see that criticizing him where he fell short as shitting on him.

  37. 37.

    catclub

    June 15, 2014 at 5:58 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I saw poor old Michael Steele

    GOP has massive wins in 2010 and Steele gets thrown out. GOP loses for pres and makes no gains in the senate in 2012 and Preibus stays in. At least racism is dead in the GOP.

  38. 38.

    MikeJ

    June 15, 2014 at 5:58 pm

    @hilts:

    RIP Casey Kasem

    I guess his daughter didn’t get him to a doctor in time. That whole soap opera was tragic.

  39. 39.

    Baud

    June 15, 2014 at 5:58 pm

    @Higgs Boson’s Mate:

    No one is criticizing Schweizer for those things.

  40. 40.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    June 15, 2014 at 5:58 pm

    @I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:
    Thanks for the clarification. I was mistaken. I had read somewhere that the turnout was 9%, which would be abysmal even for a primary.
    Yeah, people who supported Cantor just didn’t bother to show up despite all the dough he put into the race. maybe ads weren’t what his constituents wanted. Maybe they wanted more of him at home instead of in DC. It’s not like it would have been a difficult trip to show up now and then.

  41. 41.

    catclub

    June 15, 2014 at 6:00 pm

    So Cantor WAS the top bagman for business in Congress, and reaped a huge pile of money from it.

    1. Does he get to keep those campaign donations for personal use, now?

    2. Who becomes the top bagman for business in the House GOP?

  42. 42.

    Corner Stone

    June 15, 2014 at 6:00 pm

    @Higgs Boson’s Mate:

    Obama has made his share of mistakes.

    *GASPS*

  43. 43.

    e.a.f.

    June 15, 2014 at 6:02 pm

    need not worry. once the teabaggers get to Washington and the lobbyists start making their rounds and explain how things work, the teabaggers will become good compliant senators and congress people and everyone can go back to sleep.

  44. 44.

    Lyrebird

    June 15, 2014 at 6:04 pm

    @hilts: Awwwww. Thanks for the news. The voice of my childhood!

  45. 45.

    jl

    June 15, 2014 at 6:08 pm

    @Higgs Boson’s Mate: You asked Anya, but I’ll chime in. I think Schweitzer is a smart and informed guy. He understands many issues better than a lot of politicians. Yes, many of his policy ideas are good. But I think he has adopted a clownish folksy manner, and is saying wild things about what was possible in healthcare reform, for example, establishing Medicare for all. He is right about the NSA, but has to talk about Snowdon in way that will be excessively controversial for no reason. I think it comes off as clownish and too much like bashing rather than constructive criticism, and he won’t go anywhere in the primaries.

    I think he will have to ditch his new schtick if he is to be helpful to the Democrats and keep up a presence in the primaries..

  46. 46.

    WereBear

    June 15, 2014 at 6:10 pm

    @I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: Cantor lost because his supporters didn’t bother to turn out to vote for him.

    Looks to me like he didn’t have any supporters!

  47. 47.

    lamh36

    June 15, 2014 at 6:10 pm

    Coming from a family full of twins I love this video. Happy Father’s Day to all the twin dads out there.

    Baby Girl Meets Her Dad’s Twin Brother

  48. 48.

    rikyrah

    June 15, 2014 at 6:11 pm

    @catclub:
    I thought that the rule was that if you declare it as income, and pay taxes, you can take the money.

  49. 49.

    Mandalay

    June 15, 2014 at 6:16 pm

    @Higgs Boson’s Mate: @Higgs Boson’s Mate:

    I read Schweitzer’s “Time” interview, among other pieces…I fail to see that criticizing him where he fell short as shitting on him.

    That’s the Time interview. Just google “Schweitzer Obama” for some of the poisonous shit Schweitzer has been gratuitously spewing about the President.

    Regardless of that, Schweizter doesn’t even make the DINO threshold. He’s a nasty conman, and a self-serving scumbag.

  50. 50.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    June 15, 2014 at 6:19 pm

    @WereBear: :-)

    Yeah, he got blown out. And I’m glad.

    But Brat only had 7,218 votes more than Cantor. With $5M, Cantor should have been able to overcome that difference…

    Thankfully, he thought he had it sewn up and was entitled to re-election, so the voters thought differently.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  51. 51.

    WaterGirl

    June 15, 2014 at 6:20 pm

    Holy fuck! I just got email from Microsoft saying they are updating their terms of use and privacy statement.

    We want to take this opportunity to highlight some of the key changes and what they mean for you.

    Privacy
    As part of our ongoing commitment to respecting your privacy, we won’t use your documents, photos or other personal files or what you say in email, chat, video calls or voice mail to target advertising to you.

    This means they were actually looking at the content of email messages, etc and using that to target advertising. Jeez, how can that possibly be legal? And we’re worried about the NSA?

  52. 52.

    Mandalay

    June 15, 2014 at 6:23 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    Jeez, how can that possibly be legal?

    You’re kidding, right? Right?….

  53. 53.

    Anya

    June 15, 2014 at 6:26 pm

    @Higgs Boson’s Mate: As Baud said, no one is faulting him for that, but disrespecting the president while kissing up to Mitt Romney is not a winnable strategy. This is what he said about POTUS when he was asked: “is there a single thing President Obama has done that you consider a positive achievement?”:

    “My mother, God rest her soul, told me ‘Brian, if you can’t think of something nice to say about something change the subject.’”

    And this is what he said about Romney (comparing him to Obama):

    “I don’t know why you lost the election, Mitt, but I know this: I was watching you on TV and I didn’t see the Mitt Romney that I knew,” Schweitzer said. “You are a fun guy and you’re easy-going and Obama is not. I’ve been in the room with him a little, too. He’s stiff as a board and you’ve got it going on.”

    From the Washington Post

    He said this at a Republican donor retreat (run by Romney) where he criticized Obama’s energy policy and where he named Rand Paul as the one law maker he agrees with on some issues.

    Baud — I want to see what Kos says tomorrow.

  54. 54.

    Elizabelle

    June 15, 2014 at 6:28 pm

    Jeff Schapiro, longtime political columnist in the Richmond Times Dispatch, on what he thinks led to Cantor’s loss:

    Redistricting created Eric Cantor; redistricting destroyed him.

    As a young pup in suburban Richmond and a Young Gun in Washington, Cantor ran in made-to-order legislative and congressional districts, drawn to maximize their Republican reflex. These districts, as my maternal grandfather used to say — because it reflected his own politics — would vote for a Republican if you dug one up and stuffed him. [Don’t give them any ideas; they’re perilously close to that already.]

    … [G]errymandering minimizes two-party competition. It also can weaken a politician. If he or she only has to show up on Election Day, why bother tuning up the skills ordinarily required to win?

    … Cantor isn’t one to slap backs, kiss babies, knock on doors, or work the room. Not everyone got to see him. Campaign events were by invitation. When Cantor announced hours at his district offices, it was staff members who’d hear constituents’ concerns, not the congressman. Reporters were avoided.

    … Cantor is a business-oriented Republican, largely focused on low taxes and light regulation. He’s fine in a hushed salon with a few Wall Street sharpies. A roomful of excited activists can be a bother. [The salonistas are his actual constituents; the activists — aka rubes aka actual voters in his district — are an occupational hazard.]

    … Cantor said he was in the 7th District every week. But the district to which he traveled in a lumbering black SUV [nice touch] driven by a plainclothes U.S. Capitol police officer is changing, particularly in the suburban jurisdictions hard by Richmond.

    Henrico, Cantor’s home, as well as Chesterfield and Hanover counties — all three fell to Brat — are fast-growing. White flight from Richmond hastened their growth in the 1960s and 1970s. In the 1990s and 2000s, these counties are booming because people are migrating to them from outside Virginia. Richmond’s suburbs are nationalizing.

    Newcomers, attracted by giant companies based here, bring with them different political traditions and philosophies. They frequently are more moderate than those of the aging natives who make up the hard kernel of the Cantor base.

    I love that final sentence. Aging natives with hard heads. Schapiro can be a most entertaining writer.

    Although he was as blindsided by Brat’s win as anyone else.

  55. 55.

    Suffern ACE

    June 15, 2014 at 6:32 pm

    @Elizabelle: so those moderates voted for the tea party candidates?

  56. 56.

    WaterGirl

    June 15, 2014 at 6:34 pm

    @Mandalay: No, I’m actually serious. Does that make me an idiot?

  57. 57.

    jl

    June 15, 2014 at 6:34 pm

    @Anya Thanks, I forgot about those beauts.

    if Schweitzer had turned into a grifter, he probably understands the window for making bank on being a loose cannon maverick who let’s fly with every single though on the top of his head. Let’s see how serious he is about actually making a coherent case for himself as a candidate for anything. If he is a grifter now, he’ll won’t do diddly for the midterms, and will be long gone by the time serious work for 2016 comes around.

    I see no reason to give him props for his good ideas, since there are others, with just as many credentials, who make similar arguments

  58. 58.

    JPL

    June 15, 2014 at 6:37 pm

    @Suffern ACE: Brat ran on a populist agenda. Unfortunately, he believes that if you go to church and are nice to your neighbor, markets will take care of themselves. In other words, he is a libertarian fiscally and a whacko socially.

  59. 59.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    June 15, 2014 at 6:38 pm

    @Anya:

    As Baud said, no one is faulting him for that, but disrespecting the president while kissing up to Mitt Romney is not a winnable strategy.

    As Hillary found out when she disrespected Obama and kissed up to McCain with her commander-in-chief threshold remark.I’m not a fan of Schweitzer, I certainly wouldn’t rule out the threat posed by someone with a strong populist message.

  60. 60.

    Elizabelle

    June 15, 2014 at 6:38 pm

    @Suffern ACE:

    I suspect a few did, to stick it to Cantor. More to the point, they may have sickened of Cantor earlier than expected, and did not turn out.

    It’s thought that federal government employees, and there are many in the north of his district, did not appreciate the shutdown one bit.

    TBogg called it, noticing that Cantor is a dick. Not lost on his constituents. He wasn’t “their dick” for enough of them, perhaps.

    Jeff Schapiro, with an Election Day morning comment:

    House Majority Leader Eric Cantor faces off today against a Tea Party opponent in a primary race that has gotten a little too close for comfort. Cantor is expected to beat college professor David Brat, but the dwindling margin appears to be a rebuke of the party establishment that Cantor represents.

  61. 61.

    gogol's wife

    June 15, 2014 at 6:43 pm

    @lamh36:

    That is so cute!

  62. 62.

    WaterGirl

    June 15, 2014 at 6:51 pm

    @gogol’s wife: I loved the side-eye the little girl would give the “other” dad. So sweet. At least she took it in stride and didn’t start crying because it didn’t make sense.

  63. 63.

    Mandalay

    June 15, 2014 at 6:52 pm

    @WaterGirl: You would have agreed to permit targeted advertising when you signed up for a Microsoft email service. Now that doesn’t mean Microsoft was ever analyzing your Skype sessions or uploaded images to pick out which ads to foist on you. But it does mean that your on-line activity was being monitored (e.g. which web sites you visited) in order to send you personalized ads.

  64. 64.

    scav

    June 15, 2014 at 6:58 pm

    @WaterGirl: A little slow to the full game, I’m afraid so. It’s been clear for years that corporate mining of such data was as much, if not more a problem that govt. activities. Privacy protections were stronger in Canada and the Europe even in the dark ages when I was studying related issues during the late 90s, working with existing reports (meaning I was far from first-wave). Weren’t there threats of in-line in-mail advertising for a while?

  65. 65.

    Long Tooth

    June 15, 2014 at 7:02 pm

    And if the Pulitzer committee ever starts handing out better-late-than-never awards, those apt words by T Bogg will be honored.

  66. 66.

    Anya

    June 15, 2014 at 7:02 pm

    @jl: I don’t think he’s politically savvy. Mitt Romney is a non entity. He can’t deliver him any votes, so why is he wasting his time and political capital on sucking up to him? I just don’t get it.

    As for grifting, according to the Post he’s a mining company executive. That’s why he was trashing Obama’s energy policy at the retreat.

    @Higgs Boson’s Mate: Schweitzer’s white guy populist (who hates Obama and is not afraid to say it) schtick might make him popular with the cool college kids but it won’t win him votes in the Democratic primaries. I don’t even think the cool kids will like him when they discover his environmental stands and his love of guns.

  67. 67.

    Tokyokie

    June 15, 2014 at 7:25 pm

    If Cantor lost because he’s a dick, then why in Jim Inhofe still in the Senate?

  68. 68.

    pattonbt

    June 15, 2014 at 7:26 pm

    Of all the politicians out there, none ginned up a level of hate from me just on sight alone more than Eric Cantor. While there are many many many many politicians and government / media hacks I dislike with much greater intensity and think are a million times more detsructive then he, Cantor just always looked the part of slick, self-satisfied a-hole politician. Someone who you could never trust (not that you can trust any politician). Everything about the way he carried himself screamed “dick” and “me first” climber. The kind of man who’d sell out his own family for a nickle and some face time on camera. He was always the one politician, that if I was a violent sort, I would cross the street to punch in the face just because.

    Good riddance. Even if it is replacing the devil you know with the one you don’t.

  69. 69.

    Anoniminous

    June 15, 2014 at 7:32 pm

    @Ultraviolet Thunder:

    Not according to Booman.

  70. 70.

    Another Holocene Humann

    June 15, 2014 at 7:32 pm

    @Higgs Boson’s Mate: “Schweitzer a schwartzer? Color me surprised.”

    He’ll be a shvitzer when Dem primary voters get done with his Obama-rejecting ass.

  71. 71.

    FlipYrWhig

    June 15, 2014 at 7:33 pm

    This supposedly “populist” element of Brat’s worldview is being wildly overstated. His professorship is sponsored by a bank. His whole career is based on studying the “moral” aspects of capitalism. Maybe he doesn’t like Wall Street — who does? — but he loves, loves, loves capitalism. He thinks the solution to amoral and rapacious capital is piety and virtue and churchgoing. He’s that rare bird, a theocratic libertarian. IOW, a loon.

  72. 72.

    Another Holocene Humann

    June 15, 2014 at 7:35 pm

    @Anya: FYWP ate my comment but you said it even better than I did. Worse than Huntsman, if anything.

  73. 73.

    Anne Laurie

    June 15, 2014 at 7:38 pm

    @Anya:

    I don’t think he’s politically savvy. Mitt Romney is a non entity. He can’t deliver him any votes, so why is he wasting his time and political capital on sucking up to him? I just don’t get it.

    Not to defend Schweizer’s verbal assault on our President, but I’m assuming Romney paid Schweizer’s way to spend a very nice weekend among the rich people, collecting nice-guy-to-have-a-beer-with chits and a ton of free media exposure otherwise unavailable to Democrats from unglamorous flyover states like Montana. If nothing else ever comes of this weekend, what’s Schweitzer’s loss?

    There’s room on the Bobblehead circuit, and possibly in the Democratic primaries, for a “blue collar guns God & gasoline” contender running hard to the right of the de Blasio urban progressives. Feinting in that direction is a longshot small bet with a potentially rich payoff. There was no love lost between Schweitzer and the Obama campaign, and there has been plenty of talk(true or not) that President Obama’s people aren’t putting enough energy into helping out Dems running in 2014.

    If everything goes just right, and this time next year President Obama has a slim Democratic majority in both houses, the economy is perking up, and the ongoing disaster in the Middle East remains a crisis only for those unfortunates living in the region, there’s a boatload of Proud Progressives competing for the Democratic crown and Brian Schweitzer has free run of the media green rooms to critique them. If things aren’t so copacetic, Schweitzer gets to be The Guy Who Correctly Predicted, and he gets a prominent speaking role at the 2016 convention (cuz that’s how us Dems roll).

    What’s the downside for Brian Schweitzer, right now? That all the True Progressives are going to hate him? Heck, you hated him before he showed up at Romney’s party, didn’t you?

  74. 74.

    Anoniminous

    June 15, 2014 at 7:45 pm

    Schweitzer’s ConservaDem schtick is reaching for a constituency that no longer exists.

    Graph also goes some way to explaining the rapid switch of public opinion on Same Sex Marriage.

  75. 75.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    June 15, 2014 at 7:52 pm

    @Higgs Boson’s Mate: @Anya: “My mother, God rest her soul, told me ‘Brian, if you can’t think of something nice to say about something change the subject.’”

    And you left out the clownish mugging the reporter described,

    But at the moment, Schweitzer is rubbing his chin, looking up at the ceiling, searching – unsuccessfully – for just the right words.

    The thing he leaves out of his arguments on health care is how he would get something better passed. I guess he has a lot of faith in his pale skin and bolo tie

  76. 76.

    Anne Laurie

    June 15, 2014 at 7:58 pm

    @Anoniminous: Still a nice chunk of votes at the ‘mixed’ center of that pile. The very swiftness of the left-right sorting proves how volatile the “low information” voter is liable to be… “centrists” might not be able to anoint a primary winner, but the horse-trading will be fierce & IMO that’s where Schweitzer is looking for a niche.

  77. 77.

    Anya

    June 15, 2014 at 8:13 pm

    @Anne Laurie: So.. he’s grifting?

    And you’re right, I never liked him. I never thought of him more than a blue dog with a marketable schtick.

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I was actually embarrassed for him so I left out that part.

    @Another Holocene Humann: I was going to say Michael Steel but then I thought Huntsman is more geographically appropriate.

  78. 78.

    FlipYrWhig

    June 15, 2014 at 8:13 pm

    @Anne Laurie: Schweitzer is Ed Rendell in a cowboy hat. He’s squandered a lot of goodwill from the old “netroots” days. If you had told me four years ago that Dinosaur Steve Beshear would be helping Democrats and Brian Schweitzer would be acting like a dick, I never would have believed it.

  79. 79.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    June 15, 2014 at 8:16 pm

    @FlipYrWhig: @Anne Laurie: Schweitzer is Ed Rendell in a cowboy hat.

    nice

  80. 80.

    WaterGirl

    June 15, 2014 at 8:17 pm

    @Mandalay: So because I use Outlook as my email program, they have the right to look at the contents of my email? That seems crazy.

  81. 81.

    Mandalay

    June 15, 2014 at 8:37 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    So because I use Outlook as my email program, they have the right to look at the contents of my email? That seems crazy.

    Why? Of course they can, and you would have agreed to that (presumably without realizing it) when you accepted their lengthy terms when you set up your email account. But just because they can does not mean that they do.

    And in contrast to Google/GMail, Microsoft specifically assert that they do not scan Outlook emails for targeted advertising: “Microsoft’s email version , Outlook.com, does not scan users’ emails”.

    But even if Microsoft aren’t scanning the content of your emails, the NSA definitely are. An easy (but not recommended) way to verify this would be to send an email containing a plausible death threat on the president.

  82. 82.

    Anoniminous

    June 15, 2014 at 8:53 pm

    @Anne Laurie:

    Low information voters do not engage in primaries. In 2008 there was an historically high national 27% turnout for both parties with 19.1 million Dems voting to 13.1 million GOP. 2012 reverted to historic levels with 16.33% turnout, in part because Obama ran unopposed.

    I think that level of disengagement is neither good for the political parties or the country but that’s how it is.

  83. 83.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    June 15, 2014 at 10:56 pm

    @Anoniminous:
    Turnout in the California midterms was less than 20%. Turnout in LA county was around 13%.Whatever they’re selling, people aren’t interested in buying it.

  84. 84.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    June 15, 2014 at 11:02 pm

    @Higgs Boson’s Mate: We have far more elections than other 1st World countries.

  85. 85.

    John M. Burt

    June 15, 2014 at 11:27 pm

    @WaterGirl: Reminds me of my brother’s childhood parody of the Carefree Sugarless Gum jingle: “Carefree Boogerless Gum — not like last year’s!”

  86. 86.

    WaterGirl

    June 15, 2014 at 11:45 pm

    @John M. Burt: hahahahaha

    Edit: Was it pizza hut who had the ad campaign- hey, our pizza doesn’t suck anymore, not like it did before

  87. 87.

    KS in MA

    June 15, 2014 at 11:54 pm

    @lamh36:

    Awwwww! That’s wonderful!

  88. 88.

    Matt McIrvin

    June 16, 2014 at 1:46 am

    @WaterGirl: That’s the business model of Google’s Gmail. Some algorithm on the server parses your email and puts vaguely relevant ads on the page.

  89. 89.

    Matt McIrvin

    June 16, 2014 at 1:50 am

    @Anne Laurie:

    If things aren’t so copacetic, Schweitzer gets to be The Guy Who Correctly Predicted, and he gets a prominent speaking role at the 2016 convention (cuz that’s how us Dems roll).

    Or he can go Zell Miller/Joe Lieberman and bask in glory at the 2016 Republican convention.

  90. 90.

    WaterGirl

    June 16, 2014 at 7:50 am

    @Matt McIrvin: That’s why I don’t use gmail. I use email from my tiny little ISP for a reason. And then to think that just because I use Outlook, Microsoft gets to look at the content of my messages? Maddening.

  91. 91.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    June 16, 2014 at 12:43 pm

    So, Markos’ favorite Dem turns out to be a turncoat?

    Man, that guy sure can pick ’em.

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

On The Road - Winter Wren - North of Quebec City (part 2 of 3) - Cap Tourmente and on the way to Tadoussac 4
Image by Winter Wren (5/16/25)

Recent Comments

  • Baud on Open Thread: Oh, Really? (May 17, 2025 @ 7:40am)
  • zhena gogolia on Open Thread: Oh, Really? (May 17, 2025 @ 7:39am)
  • Rugosa on Open Thread: Oh, Really? (May 17, 2025 @ 7:38am)
  • Manyakitty on Open Thread: Oh, Really? (May 17, 2025 @ 7:26am)
  • Suzanne on Open Thread: Oh, Really? (May 17, 2025 @ 7:25am)

PA Supreme Court At Risk

Donate

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
War in Ukraine
Donate to Razom for Ukraine

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Meetups

Upcoming Ohio Meetup May 17
5/11 Post about the May 17 Ohio Meetup

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)
Fix Nyms with Apostrophes

Hands Off! – Denver, San Diego & Austin

Social Media

Balloon Juice
WaterGirl
TaMara
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
DougJ NYT Pitchbot
mistermix

Keeping Track

Legal Challenges (Lawfare)
Republicans Fleeing Town Halls (TPM)
21 Letters (to Borrow or Steal)
Search Donations from a Brand

PA Supreme Court At Risk

Donate

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2025 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!